Enterprise Biometrics Month: The Roundup

A lot of businesses have transformed in astonishing ways over the past month as organizations have radically altered workflows in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But this is a temporary aberration – hopefully a very temporary one. Meanwhile, larger transformations are underway in the enterprise sector that are going to last, thanks to the increasing adoption of biometric technology.

To track that deeper, much more positive set of changes, March has been Enterprise Biometrics Month at FindBiometrics, bringing you in-depth features detailing how biometrics are reshaping businesses for the better.

Retiring the Password

Enterprise Biometrics Month’s first feature looked at the most immediate and fundamental role that biometric technology has come to play in the enterprise – replacing password-based security. It’s a trend that can be seen across a range of sectors, from government, to financial services, to manufacturing; and it’s one that is tied to the broader wave of digitization that has swept the world over the last couple of decades.

Contracts, client profiles, employee records – files that used to be kept in locked cabinets, vaults, or executive offices are now being stored on computers and servers, and while usernames and passwords offered a means of security that was at first appropriate for this digital age, hackers and other malefactors have developed tools to break through these safeguards, while employees and administrators have found the growing roster of complex passwords difficult to manage. Used effectively, biometric authentication can solve both of these problems, as detailed in this feature.

Biometrics Open Doors

Next came a look at the more recent big frontier in enterprise biometrics, securing physical access. This is not an area in which biometrics are replacing passwords, of course; rather, biometric technologies are now being recognized for their utility in replacing things like physical keys, PIN codes, guard booths, and – probably most commonly – key fobs.

As detailed in this feature, a wide range of biometric solutions are available to address a range of different organizations needs. Large organizations that must admit hundreds of workers every day can implement a device that scans fingerprints with a wave of the hand, for example, while other businesses might opt for face-based system that lets staff access doors simply by taking a selfie on their smartphones. The important thing is that administrators now have options that can improve both security and efficiency when it comes to employee and visitor access.

The Biometric Business in Practice

All of this sounds great in the abstract, but what does it actually look like in practice? This was the focus of our third feature for Enterprise Biometrics Month, which looked in more detail at how a given organization might implement actual biometric solutions. This covers everything from the password management tool LastPass to the MorphoWave contactless fingerprint scanner to the BioConnect Unified Mobile Access solution; and the applications span across securing digital files to enabling visitor access to simply getting employees through the door in the morning.

The Experts Talk Business

Enterprise Biometrics Month didn’t just deliver feature articles, however – it also brought an in-depth discussion among industry experts, thanks to a collaboration between FindBiometrics and ISC West. Featuring high-level executives from BioConnect, IDEMIA, and Paravision, as well as renowned industry analyst Maxine Most and FindBiometrics Digital Content VP Susan Stover as moderator, the panel delved into a number of issues pertaining to enterprise biometrics, including the scalability, privacy, and the convergence of digital and physical access.

The discussion was originally slated to take place in Las Vegas during ISC West, but is now available to stream through the ID Talk Podcast, and well worth a listen for those looking to keep up with the enterprise biometrics transformation – because once the pandemic has ended, this broader shift will keep going.

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Enterprise Biometrics month is made possible by our sponsors: BioConnect and IDEMIA.

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March 26, 2020 – by Alex Perala